his oar from one of those left in the boat, and swept the boat before the sea, filled with water inside as high as the midship gunwale: the boat was steered in this situation, before the wind and sea, a distance far exceeding a mile, and landed twenty-one men, including the boat's crew, without any accident, but being wet.

Account of the Scarborough Life Boat, by Thomas Hinderwell. SIR-The life boat at Scarborough, which was built without the least deviation from the model and the plan which you sent here at my requeet, has even exceeded the most sanguine expectations; and I have now received experimental conviction of its great utility in cases of shipwreck, and of its perfect safety in the most agitated sea. Local prejudices will ever exist against novel inventions, however excellent may be the principles of their construction; and there were some at this place, who disputed the performance of the life boat, until a circumstance lately happened, which brought it to the test of experience, and removed every shadow of objection, even from the most prejudiced

minds.

On Monday, the 2d of November, we were visited with a most tremendous storm from the eastward, and I scarcely ever remember seeing a more mountainous sea. The Aurora, of Newcastle, in approaching the harbour, was driven ashore to the southward; and, as she was in the most imminent danger, the life boat was immediately launched to her assistance. The place where the ship lay was exposed to the whole force of the sea, and she was surrounded with broken water, which dashed over the decks with considerable violence. In such a perilous situation the life boat adventured, and proceeded through the breach of the sea, rising on the summit of the waves, without shipping any water, except a little from the spray. On going upon the leequarter of the vessel, they were endangered by the main-boom, which had broken loose, and was driving about with great force, This com pelled them to go along side, and they instantly took out four of the crew; but the sea which broke over the decks having nearly filled the boat with water, they were induced to put off for a moment, when seeing three boys (the remainder of the crew) clinging to the rigging, and in danger of perishing, they immediately returned, and took them into the boat, and brought the whole to land in safety. By means of the life boat, built from your plan, and the exertions of the boatmen, seven men and boys were thus saved to their country and their friends, and preserved from the inevitable destruction which otherwise awaited them. The boat was not in the least affected by the water which broke into her when alongside the vessel; and, indeed, the boatmen thought it rendered her more steady in the sea. I must also add, that it was the general opinion, that no other boat of the common construc tion could have possibly performed this service; and the fishermen, though very adventurous, declared they would not have made the attempt in their own boats.

We have appointed a crew of fishermen to manage the boat, under the direction of the committee, and the men are so much satisfied with the performance of the boat, and so confident in her safety, that they are emboldened to adventure upon the most dangerous occasion.! have been thus circumstantial, in order to shew the great utility of the life boat; and, I should think, it would be rendering an essential ser

vice to the community, if any recommendation of mine should contribute to bring this valuable invention into more general use.—I remain, Sir, &c.

Captain Manby's Apparatus.

Those who have had the opportunity of seeing the pictures of desolation realized on the eastern and north-eastern coasts of our island, and who have beheld the dreadful train of consequences that ensue;-the agonizing cries of the sailors;-the torturing suspense of the by-standers on the beach;-the dead bodies washed on shore;-and too often the lamentations of the wife or child over the body of an honest and industrious parent; can best appreciate the merits of Captain Manby. He was a captain of engineers, and held the station of barrack-master at Yarmouth, on the coast of Norfolk, in the year 1807. It is well known, that the coast for several leagues N. of that port, and, indeed, the whole eastern coast of our island, is peculiarly dangerous to navigators in the winter months, and totally unprovided with secure harbours. The consequence is, that many ships are unavoidably driven ashore, or rather upon the shoals of the coast, which will seldom permit the approach of a wreck within less than 100 yards of the land. Frequent are the instances in which vessels thus fixed within sight of their owners, and crews, whose cries were within hearing of their friends and relations, have been beaten to pieces by the waves, and engulphed in the deep, without the possibility of affording any assistance, from the want of means to establish a communication either by a boat, or by a rope, with the object in danger. It is obvious, that if communication, even by a slender packthread, can once be established between a stranded vessel and persons on shore, a rope may first be run out, and then a cable, by means of which the crew, and the most valuable parts of the cargo, may be successively drawn to the land. The following extracts from the preface give an account of the events which first drew Captain Manby's attention to the subject, and of the difficulties which he had to surmount; the perusal of them will render the description of the means, to which he had recourse, both more intelligible and more interesting. "The dreadful events of the 18th of February 1807, when his majesty's gun-brig Snipe was driven on shore near the Haven's mouth at Yarmouth, first made an impression on my mind, which has never been effaced. At the close of that melancholy scene, after several hours of fruitless attempt to save the crew, upwards of sixty persons were lost, though not more than fifty yards from the shore, and this wholly owing to the impossibility of conveying a rope to their assistance. At that crisis a ray of hope beamed upon me, and I resolved immediately to devote my mind to the discovery of some means for affording relief in cases of similar distress and difficulty. It is matter of no small consolation, when I reflect that my efforts were soon crowned with the happiest success, and have been already instrumental to the preservation of ninety souls from a watery grave, of which seventy-seven were my countrymen, and thirteen unfortunate Hollanders.

"In the prosecution of my object considerable difficulty presented itself, viz. in the case of vessels grounding on a bar, when running for a harbour, as their only chance of safety; the broken water, by giving no resistance to the blade of the oar, prevents a boat from pulling up to the ship's aid, though within ten or twenty yards of her. My attention

became here engaged in the construction of a small piece of ordnance from the boat so as to communicate for the of projecting a rope purpose in such circumstances with the ship. A small portable mortar was also essential, the better to ensure a prompt and effectual communication, at a period when each successive instant was big with the fate of an entire ship's company.

"The dreadful event also of a Swedish brig, called the Wandering Main, driven on shore at Hasbro', in the night of the 5th of January 1809, imprinted on my feelings the necessity of contriving a method of affording the same assistance at the more awful hour of night, when darkness doubles the danger, and baffles even the experienced naviga tor. It was on this lamented occasion, a dark and dismal night, when objects were scarcely discernible, that numerous unavailing attempts were made to project a rope to the vessel by the means successfully used in the day; but its flight could not be observed, either by the persons on shore or those on board, and seven long and anxious hours elapsed before the light of day favoured the endeavours to effect the muchdesired communication; when, at the very instant the cot reached the vessel, she went to pieces, and every soul on board perished!"

We may add also, that in one day only, viz. the 10th Nov. 1810, the crews of sixty-five vessels, wrecked on our N. E. coasts, entirely perishThe number of souls was ed within one hundred yards of the shore, estimated at 500;-and it is fair to presume, from the result of experi ence, that if the apparatus of which we are about to give a short description had been within reach, 460 of these lives might have been saved. On these data some probable estimate may be formed of the annual saving of lives to the nation, from the general adoption of the apparatus on the coasts of our islands,

We have already stated, that the object in view was to discover some certain means of projecting a rope in boisterous weather from the land The active and philan to a ship stranded on a shoal at some distance. proba thropic mind of Captain Manby was not tardy in pointing out a ble method. It struck him that a cannon shot affixed to a rope, and projected from a piece of ordnance over a stranded vessel, was a prac ticable mode of establishing the communication. But to reduce it to practice was found to be attended with much greater difficulty than the simplicity of the object seemed at first sight to promise.

In the first place, the faking or manner of laying the rope so as to unfold itself with the rapidity equal to the flight of a shell from a mor tar, without breaking by sudden jerks at each returning fold, and with out entanglement from the effect of uneven ground and boisterous winds, was no easy task. But it was at length attained by adopting what is called a French faking, in folds of the length of two yards; and by laying the rope in a flat basket always kept ready, with the order, in a secure place; so that it could be transported at a moment's notice to the situation required, and laid upon rocks and uneven ground, even in the most boisterous weather, without fear of distrrangement.

rope

The next difficulty consisted in the means of connecting the rope with a shot, so as to resist the inflammation of gunpowder in that part of it which must necessarily occupy the interior of the mortar. Chains in every variety of form and strength universally broke from the sudden jerks or play to which they were liable, "which proved, that not only

an elastic, but a more connected body was necessary." "At length," says Captain Manby, "some stout platted hide, woven extremely close to the eye of the shot to prevent the slightest play, extending about two feet beyond the muzzle of the piece, and with a loop at the end to receive the rope, happily effected it,"

This apparatus projected over a vessel stranded on a lee-shore from a small howitzer, so light as to be easily conveyed from one part of the coast to another, affords a certain means of saving the lives of the crew in the day-time, and when from cold and fatigue they are not disabled from seizing and fastening the rope, and in other respects, joining their own exertions to those of their friends on shore, The following extract from an account of experiments made before some colonels and fieldofficers of artillery, shew the celerity with which the service may be performed.

"A person is completely equipped with every necessary apparatus to effect communication with a vessel driven on a lee-shore, A man mounted on horseback was exhibited, accoutred with a deal frame, containing 200 yards of log line ready coiled for service, which was slung as a knapsack; with a brass howitzer of a three-pounder bore on its carriage, and two rounds of ammunition, the whole weighing 62 pounds, strapped on the fore part of the saddle. The person thus equipped is supposed to be enabled to travel with expedition to the aid of ships in danger of being wrecked on parts of the coast intermediate to the mortar stations; and with this small apparatus, the log line is to be projected over the vessel in distress, from which a rope should be attached to it to haul the crew on shore. Captain Manby caused the howitzer to be dismounted from the horse, and in a few minutes fired it, when the shot was thrown, with the line attached, to the distance of 143 yards.

"At a subseqnent trial the horseman, fully equipped, travelled a mile and a third; the howitzer was dismounted, and the line projected 153 yards, in six-minutes."

In order more fully to explain the mode of operation, we lay, before our readers a sketch of the apparatus in full activity.

INVENTIONS FOR THE

Such is the simple but efficacious nature of Captain Manby's first i vention; and a few practical experiments soon ascertained the allowan to be made in pointing the mortar to windward of the object which the rope is to fall, in order to obviate the effect of a strong wind which would, of course, carry it considerably to leeward.

Experience also proved, that the mortar should be laid at a low e vation, in order to ensure the certainty of the rope's falling on the we thermost part of the rigging.

This original invention, however, was obviously capable of many improvements. The first of which was to afford assistance to vessels whose crews, either from their being lashed to the rigging, or from extreme cold and fatigue, are incapable of assisting to secure the rope to the wreck when projected over it from the mortar. This was at tained by adding a quadruple barb to the shot, by means of which when the rope is hauled tight by the people on shore, one end is firmly secured on some part of the rigging or wreck, and a boat can of cours be hauled to the relief of the crew, without any assistance on their part.

The following is one of the many certificates of the practical benefits that have resulted from this improvement:

"We, the crew of the brig, Nancy, of Sunderland, do hereby certify, that we were on board the said vessel, when she was stranded on the beach of Yarmouth, on Friday morning the 15th of December 1809, and compelled to secure ourselves in the rigging, to prevent being swept away, the sea running so high over the vessel. And we do further declare and certify, that Captain Manby firing a rope with a hooked shot securely holding on the wreck, enabled a boat to be hauled from the shore over the surf to our relief otherwise we must inevitably have perished." Signed by six persons.

Ships are also stranded by night more frequently than by day, and generally in dark and boisterous nights; and to wait till day-light for the application of this apparatus might of course eventually preclude all

its benefits.

The weather, also, upon an open coast, during a storm, is seldom fi vourable for the inflammation of gunpowder; and some attempts to save the lives of the shipwrecked had actually failed from the wetness of the powder and the difficulty of keeping a portfire burning. Captain Manby at first attempted to obviate this last inconvenience by the use of a pistol lock and short barrel; but he found the following ingenious contrivance by far the most efficacious mode of securing a discharge: A short funnel-shaped tube of common writing paper is filled with a preparation of